A
united and peaceful Europe seemed to be a distant dream for a
generation which went through the experience of war and destruction.
Today, this hope gained shape in the new realities of the European
Union. Despite its official proclamation of peace, social well-being and
an “alternative to capitalism and communism” the project finds itself
in a prolonged crisis with uncertain expectations. The Euro-­crisis,
massive austerity and the increasing interference into democratic
principles, a growing division between powerful and weak economies,
Germany's new hegemony and the growing influence of financial capital appear in stark contrast to the official slogans of “European values and solidarity”.

The
desperate struggle of SYRIZA demonstrated the necessity and seeming
impossibility of the Left across Europe to answer with a politics that
would be truly international and go beyond “resisting austerity.”
Despite growing social unrest, the deep ambivalence towards the EU
expresses itself in the inability of the Left to formulate a coherent
vision of a political alternative. At the same time, the rejection of
the EU is ceded to a growing Right. What is the EU for the Left today?
Does the Left believe the EU should be overcome on the basis of the EU
itself, or against the EU? The clarification of its nature and
appropriate responses seem to be one of the most pressing issues for the
Left on the continent and beyond.

The Platypus Affiliated Society, established in December 2006, organizes reading groups, public fora, research and journalism focused on problems and tasks inherited from the “Old” (1920s-30s), “New” (1960s-70s) and post-political (1980s-90s) Left for the possibilities of emancipatory politics today.